One month to Donald Trump’s inauguration as President

Posted: 7:00 am Tuesday, December 20th, 2016

By Jamie Dupree

Now that the vote of the Electoral College is out of the way, a quick glance at the calendar shows that January 20, 2017 is just a month away, as the pace of work is quickening at the U.S. Capitol for the Inauguration of President-Elect Donald Trump.

I hustled out in the chilly weather of the last week to get some photographs on the West Front of the Capitol – there is still a lot of work to be done to get things ready.

It’s a big operation – building the stand where the new President will take the oath of office, stands for the VIP’s, a camera platform and more.

In the below photograph, you can see the stands being built on one side, and then the “tower” (for lack of a better descriptive term) on the left is where the TV cameras and photographers will be for a straight-on shot of the new President.

In the next picture below, if you look over a little to the bottom left, you can see the central spot where the new President will address the nation (the darker color makes it stand out). Glancing up at the Capitol’s West Front, you may notice some kind of scaffolding back there (on the left of the picture) – that is where giant American flags will be hung for the big day of the Trump Inaugural.

From the view out of my broadcast booth on the House side of the Capitol, you can see some of the progress being made, as individual workers are busy getting things done.

One thing that is “in the way” of the inaugural planning right now is the Capitol Christmas Tree; that will be taken down soon after the holidays, because the grassy area out on the West Front will be filled with seats for those lucky enough to have a ticket.

Looking out my window in the Capitol on to the West Front – the area down below with grass will be where the chairs are placed – and then thousands of others will gather around as well.

So, one month to go – and a lot of work lies ahead for the Trump Inaugural.

I sat down the other day and figured out that this will be the tenth Inaugural that I have seen in person.